Infusing Modern Subjectivity into a Premodern Narrative Form

This article explores Masahiro Shinoda's cinematography and Toru Takemitsu's soundtracks in the Japanese film Double Suicide (1968). Along with Shinoda’s transformation of puppets into human actors, Takemitsu’s soundtracks infuse modern subjectivity into the highly stylized bunraku narrative: while the ritualized music of Balinese gamelan, bunraku chanting, and Turkish nei demarcates the traditional form of jo-ha-kyû, meta-diegetic sounds of biwa and gongs convey the inner subjectivity of the lovers who are driven to commit suicide.